By Phil Jarratt
The beauty of Tom Wegener’s recently concluded Communities Tour – although more dates are now mooted for late spring – was that since no one really knew what the councillor was on about, expectations were low. It was all a bit puzzling.
The fact is, Tom was tapping into a line of communication that normally doesn’t exist for many Noosa residents – the ability to learn firsthand how Noosa got to be an island of sustainability in a sea of gung-ho growth, and what we have to do to keep it so, and the people who came to these small-group chat shows were fascinated by what they learned.
When Cr Wegener, who has been a friend for more than 20 years, heard I was launching my Noosa history, Place Of Shadows, in late July, he asked if we could use that as the platform to also launch his Big Idea. By the time he finished explaining it to me, I was in! It was just so brilliantly simple. Take the history of Noosa to the people, let them add their own stories to it, engage with them and paint a picture of what we all want for Noosa in the future. No politics, no pitches, just important conversations between the people who helped make Noosa the way it is, and the people who are enjoying the benefits of that.
Of course, it’s in the interest, not to mention job description, of local politicians to talk to their constituents, and few people do that better than our independent MP Sandy Bolton, but most of these conversations are specific problem-solvers, whether it’s a pothole or a noisy party house. Few had ever asked residents outside of an election to just come and have a chat about how Noosa’s going.
Would people come? Tom had absolute faith that they would.
Both of us knew that the key was to bring chapters of the book to life by inviting people who had truly made a difference to speak to the groups. Over wine and cheese on the footpath outside Annie’s Books in Peregian, retiring council chief executive officer Brett de Chastel described the backroom battles that created the de-amalgamation of 2014 and gave Noosa its future back. At the Land and Sea Brewery, former mayor Noel Playford described how the North Shore had been saved from mining and development, and how the population cap had been conceived. At the Visitor Information Centre on Hastings Street, Kabi Kabi elder Brian Warner talked about past injustices and future hopes for his people. At Café Fika in Cooroy, former councillor Ray Kelly told how his views on development were turned around. At Boreen Point, former mayor Bob Abbot had the Apollonian audience spellbound with a lesson in leadership. And at the Hinterland Brewing Company in Cooran, Landcare’s Phil Moran explained how Noosa’s ring of forests had been saved.
Everywhere we went, the reaction was the same, from people who’d been part of the history themselves to newcomers who had no idea of the battles that had been fought – give us more. Let’s be open to further discussion about life in Noosa and how we can make it better.
Says Tom: “I’m very happy with what we achieved on this first tour. There will be more! As a fairly new politician, I firmly believe that we have to take the community on the journey with us, and learn from each other.”
